The Recruiter (2008 film)

Last updated
The Recruiter
Directed by Edet Belzberg
Written byEdet Belzberg
Distributed by HBO
Release date
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Recruiter is a 2008 documentary film directed by Edet Belzberg. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

One of every four high school graduates cannot pass the basic military entrance exam. Couple that with high obesity and rise of criminal records means there is a much lower chance of getting military recruits. Despite these obstacles recruitment numbers are hitting their marks. The loss of jobs during the Great Recession resulted in more recruits and many of them have one of the key measures to join, a high school diploma. Still the ineligibility rates some military leaders say are, "a matter of national security". [2]

The Recruiter takes viewers to the Louisiana coast, where they witness firsthand Sergeant First Class Clay Usie's struggle to enlist new soldiers into the U.S. Army in his hometown of Houma, Louisiana. Sgt. Usie believes that every American should serve their country and he sets his sights on Lauren, Matt, Bobby, and Chris, four teenagers who think that the Army is the answer for them.

Shot in verite style over a nine-month period the film shows the new recruits in their last semesters of high school as they prepare with Sgt. Usie for boot camp. After graduation, the film follows three of the four teenagers to basic training where they make the transition from civilians to soldiers. (The fourth teenager, Chris, was shipped out to Iraq early due to high casualties in the war.) The hardships that come with being in the army begin to arise at basic training. One girl has a massive panic attack, while some of the boys try to fake being gay in order to be discharged under "don't ask, don't tell". Once basic training is complete, the film follows Matt and Lauren back to Houma for their one-month leave before they ship out to Iraq and/or Afghanistan. Bobby, who was selected to join special forces, continues his training. The Recruiter wraps up with epilogues of where each soldier is now.

Release

It competed in the Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival under the title An American Soldier. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Americas Army</i> Series of video games

America's Army was a series of first-person shooter video games developed and published by the U.S. Army, intended to inform, educate, and recruit prospective soldiers. Launched in 2002, the game was branded as a strategic communication device designed to allow Americans to virtually explore the Army at their own pace, and allowed them to determine whether becoming a soldier fits their interests and abilities. America's Army represents the first large-scale use of game technology by the U.S. government as a platform for strategic communication and recruitment, and the first use of game technology in support of U.S. Army recruiting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military recruit training</span> Initial indoctrination and instruction given to new military personnel

Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique demands of military employment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James T. Conway</span> United States Marine Corps general

James Terry Conway is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Among his previous postings were Director of Operations (J-3) on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Commanding General of 1st Marine Division and I Marine Expeditionary Force, taking part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the First Battle of Fallujah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team</span> Military unit

The 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, also officially known as The Arkansas Brigade, is an infantry brigade combat team of the Army National Guard composed of personnel from the U.S. states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. The unit is the largest Army National Guard command in Arkansas and is headquartered at the Camp Robinson Maneuver Training Center. It was ordered into federal service in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. The 39th was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division and served in and around Baghdad for a year, returning to the United States in March 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Junger</span> American author, journalist and filmmaker (born 1962)

Sebastian Junger is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of infantry combat. He is the author of The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (1997) which was adapted into a major motion picture and led to a resurgence in adventure creative nonfiction writing. He covered the War in Afghanistan for more than a decade, often embedded in dangerous and remote military outposts. The book War (2010) was drawn from his field reporting for Vanity Fair, that also served as the background for the documentary film Restrepo (2010) which received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Junger's works explore themes such as brotherhood, trauma, and the relationship of the individual to society as told from the far reaches of human experience.

<i>Soldier Girls</i>

Soldier Girls is a 1981 documentary film by Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill, shot in fourteen weeks in Fort Gordon, Georgia, about several women training in the US army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Rieckhoff</span> American activist

Paul (P.J.) Rieckhoff is an American writer, social entrepreneur, activist and veteran of the United States Army and the Iraq War. He is the president of Righteous Media Inc and the host of the Independent Americans podcast. Prior to that, he was the founder, CEO and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), a non-partisan non-profit founded in 2004. He served as an Army first lieutenant and infantry rifle platoon leader in Iraq from 2003 through 2004. Rieckhoff was released from the Army National Guard in 2007. He is also the Karl Lowenstein Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in the Political Science Department at Amherst College, where he designed and taught a class on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, titled "Understanding 9/11".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Johnson</span> US Army post near Leesville, LA

Fort Johnson, formerly Fort Polk, is a United States Army installation located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, about 10 miles (15 km) east of Leesville and 30 miles (50 km) north of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish.

<i>The War Tapes</i> 2006 American documentary film

The War Tapes is a 2006 American war documentary film directed by Deborah Scranton. The film is the first documentary account of the 2003 invasion of Iraq to be produced by the soldiers themselves. The film follows three New Hampshire Army National Guard soldiers before, during, and after their deployment to Iraq about a year after the invasion. Their unit was Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain), which deployed from March 2004 to February 2005.

"Saving Private Brian" is the fourth episode of season five of Family Guy, an episode produced for Season 5. The episode originally broadcast on Fox on November 5, 2006. The episode follows Stewie and Brian after they unintentionally join the United States Army, and end up leaving to serve in Iraq, only to return home when the war ends. Meanwhile, Chris joins a heavy metal band, and develops an anti-social attitude, which requires Marilyn Manson to intervene.

Edet Belzberg is a documentary filmmaker. She won a 2005 MacArthur Fellowship.

<i>The Ground Truth</i> 2006 American film

The Ground Truth is a 2006 documentary film about veterans of the Iraq War. It was directed and produced by Patricia Foulkrod.

<i>No End in Sight</i> 2007 American film

No End in Sight is a 2007 American documentary film about the American occupation of Iraq. The directorial debut of Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson, it premiered on January 22, 2007, at the Sundance Film Festival and opened in its first two theaters in the United States on July 27, 2007. By December of that year, it had a theatrical gross of $1.4 million. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 80th Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Army Basic Training</span> Recruit training program of the United States Army

United States Army Basic Combat Training (BCT) is the recruit training program of the United States Army, for service in the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, or the Army National Guard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Army Sniper School</span> Military unit

The U.S. Army Sniper Course trains selected military members assigned to sniper positions in the skills necessary to deliver long-range precision fire and the collection of battlefield information. Students will receive training in fieldcraft skills, advanced camouflage techniques, concealed movement, target detection, range estimation, terrain utilization, intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB), relevant reporting procedures, sniper tactics, advanced marksmanship, and staff subjects.

<i>The Messenger</i> (2009 film) 2009 film directed by Oren Moverman

The Messenger is a 2009 war drama film starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Steve Buscemi, and Jena Malone. It is the directorial debut of Oren Moverman, who also wrote the screenplay with Alessandro Camon. The film follows a pair of United States Army casualty notification officers and the effects of their difficult work on their personal lives and each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">206th Field Artillery Regiment</span> Military unit

The 206th Field Artillery Regiment is a United States artillery regiment, currently represented in the Arkansas Army National Guard by the 1st Battalion, 206th Field Artillery, Headquartered at Russellville, Arkansas. The 1–206th FA is an element of the 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Hertling</span> United States Army general (born 1953)

Mark Phillip Hertling is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General. From March 2011 to November 2012, he served as the Commanding General of United States Army Europe and the Seventh Army. Hertling served in Armor, Cavalry, planning, operations and training positions, and commanded every organization from Platoon to Field Army. He commanded the 1st Armored Division and Task Force Iron/Multinational Division-North in Iraq during the troop surge of 2007 to 2008.

<i>Beneath the Helmet</i> 2014 American documentary film

Beneath the Helmet: From High School to the Home Front is a 2014 documentary film which explores the personal experiences of five Israeli high school graduates who are recruited to serve in the army paratrooper brigade for their compulsory military service.

<i>Sand Castle</i> (film) 2017 American war drama film

Sand Castle is a 2017 American war drama film directed by Fernando Coimbra and written by Chris Roessner. The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Logan Marshall-Green, Henry Cavill, Glen Powell, Tommy Flanagan, Beau Knapp, and Neil Brown Jr. The film centers on Matt Ocre, a young soldier in the United States Army, who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq. It is inspired by Roessner's experience as a soldier in the Iraq War. It was released on April 21, 2017, on Netflix.

References

  1. "And the 2010 duPont-Columbia University Awards go to…". Beyond the Box. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
  2. "Military Recruiting: Are We Passing the Test". NPR . Retrieved September 6, 2011.
  3. Giles, Jeff (November 29, 2007). "Sundance Announces 2008 Competition Slate". Rotten Tomatoes .